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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28104936">I'll be there (to comfort you)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/azile765/pseuds/azile765'>azile765</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Starmora Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Night Terrors, Starmora Week 2020, Team Dynamics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:56:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,318</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28104936</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/azile765/pseuds/azile765</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gamora reflects on the healing of her family after Thanos.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gamora/Peter Quill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Starmora Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2058990</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I'll be there (to comfort you)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Someone teach me how to not write angst bleh (also is this too guardians-centric? I’m sorry idk how to do this :p)</p><p>Title from Jackson 5's I'll Be There</p><p>Also apologies for potentially wrong format copyin and pastin messed up the italics a bit</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Heels click along the floor accompanied by the rustling of leather. There is the slight hiss of the compartment door sliding shut, leaving the other room occupant sound asleep alone. </p><p>She slides onto the chair, the firm cushion sinking under her weight. It was still early into the cycle, soft starlight pouring in through the windows, the slight whirring of the<em> Quadrant</em>’s engines the only thing there to accompany her thoughts. </p><p>It was the first time in months that they had no deadlines to catch, no missions to be done, with everyone in good shape – physically, at least. She knew that none of them have recovered from the recent battle, will perhaps never fully recover. </p><p>Perhaps out of all of them, Peter had suffered the most. Despite all of her cells screaming at her to return to their room, to stay with him and protect him, she knew that she would just disturb his (for once) peaceful slumber. </p><p>None of the Guardians could believe they got so lucky, to be able to embrace their entire family once more. </p><p>It shows, in the faces of those who didn’t get dusted. A whole five annuals with half the universe completely erased from existence, and now weeks after the incident, they are still blinking to make sure nobody was going to disappear again. </p><p>It shows, in the faces of those who disappeared. The universe has changed so much that everything seemed so new but so familiar at the same time it hurts. Some of their friends have moved on with their lives and it hurts because to them it’s been annuals but to the dusted it’s been hours. </p><p>It shows, which ones are the survivors and which ones aren’t.  </p><p>Some hug tighter and they’re reluctant to let people out of their sight. Some savour every moment and make the best out of the current situation. But when everyone sits down, it’s obvious when people are trying not to look around and assess who survived and who didn’t. It’s obvious when people are five whole annuals older – or rather, half of them are five whole annuals too young. </p><p>Everything is missed opportunities and messy endings and even though the whole universe celebrated days on end when everyone came back, they’re still picking up after the pieces. </p><p>Xandar in particular is still recovering from their own decimation<em> before</em> the dusting decimation, struggling to return itself to its former glory. The Guardians are helping, of course, but there’s only so much the living can do to recover from the dead. </p><p>The Guardians formed what seems like a lifetime ago, and yet some things are still the same. Rocket still leaves bomb parts <em>everywhere</em>, Groot still loves his game, Drax still doesn’t understand any form of figurative language. She likes to think they’re healing slowly, bit by bit, and yet. </p><p>Her sister has grown closer to Rocket and Kraglin than she has to her in their entire childhood plus adulthood. Groot no longer sasses the adults as much and constantly looks up to make sure that everyone is here. Mantis and Drax are a little more subdued with their usual characteristic happiness and humour. And Peter... </p><p>Well. </p><p>He still acts like nothing is wrong, is still that loving child under his overly confident nature. But he constantly glances at her (not that he usually didn’t look at her, but way more than usual lately, until he’s basically staring at her all the time), like she’s going to disappear if he doesn’t have visible proof in front of him. They don’t get through the night anymore, one or both of them always waking up thinking that the other is dead, they’re gone, and they would have to live without each other- </p><p>The nights are now all of screaming and panic-induced adrenaline, frantic breaths and spilling tears. </p><p>Especially the night before last. </p><p><em> She’s standing in front of Nebula again, who’s hung up with electric cables, suspended in mid-air and disassembled. </em> </p><p><em> “No, no, no,” she hisses. She does </em>not <em>want to see this. Not now. Not ever. </em> </p><p><em> She turns, and she’s on the  </em> Benatar <em> , and Rocket’s yelling to get Thor off the windows with the windshield wipers. Peter’s sudden bout of insecurity as the boys start to make fun of him, her admiration of his strength invoking his jealousy. </em> </p><p><em> Groaning, she whips around again to find herself making Peter promise. “Swear to me on your mother.” </em> </p><p><em> She wants to throw up. She wants to stab something, someone, do something, stop this. But she can only watch as she meets Peter, leaning into him as he leans on the wall, brushing her tears away. </em> </p><p><em> She’s now on </em><em>Knowhere</em><em>, everything burning, the stench of burnt fluids of the long-gone celestial nauseating. The dizzying feeling of failure as Thanos grabs the back of her head harshly, Peter trying and failing to kill her. Her vision spins, everything spinning and enlarging for a disorienting moment before zooming through nebulous clouds, shrinking quickly. </em> </p><p><em> Suddenly she’s standing in snow, but everything still seems to be on fire, flames licking at the heels of the mountain as she’s shoved off the edge of the cliff, the pain of knowing what’s to come as she free falls through the air, feeling like someone’s sucked all her organs out, her brain a few feet above her as she falls, her heart beating out of her chest. </em> </p><p><em> The pain of impact, the sucking of her soul out of her body, ripping her apart from what anchored her to the mortal world. But nothing could compare to her seeing Peter </em><em>disintegrating </em><em>from her view in the Soul realm. </em> </p><p><em> She wakes, instantly kicking out and screams. Peter is awake in seconds, wrapping his hands around her and letting his heartbeat sooth her, her tears spilling and soaking his shirt. His heart shatters when he sees her so broken, so small, and he thinks that the shadow of Thanos won’t ever fully go away. Bastard. </em> </p><p><em> He kisses her forehead then, whispering that she was here, they were here now. They were alive. </em> </p><p>“Gamora? Gamora! Oh, thank god.” </p><p>She turns around to see Peter running up to her, hair sticking up in all directions from sleeping then running his hand through it repeatedly. His shirt is inside out, and he’s not wearing his boots. </p><p>Moving to stand up, she manages to get to her feet before Peter collides with her, all 170 plus pounds of muscle slamming into her. He buries his face into her hair, inhaling deeply, gradually calming down in her presence. </p><p>“I woke up, and you weren’t there, and I thought-” </p><p>She threads her fingers in his hair, instantly letting him melt into her form, kissing his lips gently. </p><p>“I know.” </p><p>It’s so simple. Their relationship was built on mutual trust and respect, on a friendship that came from late night walks and quiet conversations during night watch when neither of them can sleep. So, he doesn’t pry on why she came out here, and she doesn’t ask what his nightmare was about. </p><p>They’ll tell each other when they’re ready, and not a moment before. They always do. </p><p>Later, Rocket will walk in and huff at them - “it’s too early for this shit, go get a room” - while Mantis will bounce to the mess hall, Drax’s booming steps following. Nebula will kick her feet up onto the table when she arrives, admonished by Kraglin, who yanks the fridge door open in hopes of finding decent ingredients for breakfast. Groot will trail in, eyes flickering up from his game every so often, trying to act like he’s too cool to care. She and Peter will settle themselves as everyone falls into the natural rhythm of their ragtag family, good-natured bantering filling the air accompanied by the sharp noises from Groot’s video game. </p><p>Soft starlight pours into the room, and she’ll intertwine her hand with Peter’s, and smile. </p><p>They’ll heal. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Constructive criticism please. Merci beaucoup!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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